Twisted Whispers
by winter0bling
Summary: This story is based on the Garth Nix world and it starts with Tom... a man who can use both charter and free magic. But also a combination of the two. hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it


I like Garth Nix and although I haven't read all his work yet I wanted to post a story based the idea of bonding charter and free magic inside a person that can jointly use them and separately use them. I no many may have the same idea but I wanted to write it anyway. All comments welcome excluding ones that don't help me. I'm a first timer writer so be gentle

Tom awoke covered in sweat.

"Damn those dreams are getting worse, so much destruction and chaos." Tom mutters to the air around him. Tom rolled around attempting to get back to sleep, but eventually gave up. He looked out of his window and saw the sun already rising and with it most of the villagers. Cursing under his breath Tom got up and got dressed. As Tom left the Inn a wave of cold overwhelmed him, Shivering wildly on such a hot day was unusual but to Tom it meant something completely different than when other people were cold. He felt something dead near him. And it was the sort that kept moving after death.

"_Dead here?"_

"_Great they've breached through the wall again."_

"_here we go again… and I thought I would never have to face them again… that's why I left the crossing point scouts… that and the fact they no longer trusted me"_

Tom did the first thing that made sense…

"DEAD!" Tom screamed at the villagers.

And then everyone went crazy. Upon hearing Tom scream everyone began running. Most were smart and entered their homes and locked the door with rowan, or bone or anything they could find like that. Others who were obviously not as smart, simply began running around like headless chickens. Only one person wasn't moving yet, it shouldn't be able to move. But it could. One of the women running around wildly came close to It; and it lunged at her, latching itself onto her, clawing at her face. And then it was over the woman collapsed, disfigured and bitten into by It. It rose up again looking slightly different, yet It looked exactly the same. The woman had helped sate the creatures hunger, but creatures like that are never truly sated. It began to walk towards tom feeling the hunger renew itself; slowly at first but gaining speed quickly, to consume the strong life before It.

This creature was freshly risen and stronger for the life it had taken; Tom hoped he was close enough to the wall to still be able to reach the charter and use his limited learning's of it to obliterate the creature. But fate, it seemed had conspired against him. The wind shifted them from southward, to northerly blowing. Not only weakening the creature but completely removing Tom's limited ability to reach the charter. Tom sighing, drew his pistol and sword, stood in a defensive stance. The creature began running at him with the speed of a sprinter. Just as the creature got close, tom fired. Again the fates conspired against him, what would normally of been a powerful shot to the face killing it instantly instead hit it in the chest. The shot would have killed any normal person but this creature just shrugged it off and started to get back up. Tom, disgusted, threw the pistol away and switched the sword onto his better hand, his right. The creature looked warily at its prey now, but Toms life was just too strong to resist the attempt of taking. Tom was slowly bouncing his weight from leg to leg, getting ready for the creatures certain attack. The creature didn't disappoint. It lunged at Tom hoping to finish him fast, but Tom was already moving to one side, narrowly missing Its extended hand. Tom had been swinging his sword as he dodged and it lodged itself in the creatures extended arm. The arm was almost entirely severed off, and anything remotely living would never be able to use it again.

"_That arm is useless now at least_" Tom hoped, even then knowing that the magic in the creature's body would allow it to continue to use that arm as long as it was attached to its body. As he continued to twist round the creature he yanked the sword from Its body. The creature, not to be beaten lunged again, but this time at the last minute tilting to the left, arm extended. The same direction Tom tried to dodge It. Luck for tom he had the sword facing the creature in front of him, so when the creature fell onto him in a desperate attempt to end the fight, it impaled itself on Toms sword. The creatures head came as close as It could, its eyes mere millimetres from Toms face. It extended its hand to claw into Toms face but he was ready for that. He grabbed the undamaged arm and used the creature's position to hold the arm against its body by slamming them both into the ground. They fought like this for a few seconds that seemed like a lifetime; but as always the balance shifted. The last part of skin holding the creatures arm on ripped, severing the magic that made it usable. The creature used its remaining arm to claw itself off the sword. Tom twisted it as it came off damaging the creature's insides even more. Then Tom did something he promised himself he would never again do in civilisation. He spoke words of power and released from inside himself a small fraction of free magic. His hand came up and a wave of white fire enveloped the creature, incinerating it almost instantly. The creature realising its body gone, fled back to death. Tom leaned over the body and said two words "stupid hand". And passed out…


End file.
